REVEAL A “HOLY SHIT” MOMENT 155
was simple and consistent in presentations, press releases, and
the Apple website. However, it remained a tagline until Jobs
brought it to life in October 2001.
Just as a playwright sets the stage early and reveals the plot
over time, Jobs never gives away the big moment right out of the
gate. He builds the drama. Jobs took the stage to introduce the
iPod and, slowly, added layers to the message until he hit the big
note.
“The biggest thing about iPod is that it holds a thousand
songs,” Jobs said.
“To have your whole music library with you at all times is
a quantum leap in listening to music.” (A device that carried a
thousand songs wasn’t unique at the time; what came next was
the big news.) “But the coolest thing about iPod is your entire
music library fits in your pocket. It’s ultraportable. iPod is the
size of a deck of cards.” Jobs’s slide showed a photograph of a
card deck. “It is 2.4 inches wide. It is four inches tall. And barely
three-quarters of an inch thick. This is tiny. It also only weighs
6.5 ounces, lighter than most of the cell phones you have in
your pockets right now. This is what’s so remarkable about iPod.
It is ultraportable. This is what it looks like.” Jobs showed a
series of photographs. He still hadn’t shown the actual device.
“In fact, I happen to have one right here in my pocket!” Jobs
then took a device out of his pocket and held it up high, as the
audience cheered. He had his photo opp. He concluded, “This
amazing little device holds a thousand songs and goes right in
my pocket.”^5
The headline in the New York Times read: “1,000 Songs in
Your Pocket.” Jobs could not have written a better headline.
Actually, he did write it! He also created an emotionally charged
event that planted the headline into the dopamine-dumping
frontal cortex of his listeners’ brains.
Dropping a Welcome Bombshell
Jobs returned to Apple as the interim CEO in 1997. He dropped
the “interim” from his title two and half years later. Instead of